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Author: John De Looper

  • Are Wiretapping Laws Helping Criminals?

    The recent debates over wiretapping are not new, as this film “Are Wiretapping Laws Helping Criminals?” demonstrates. Broadcast as an episode of All America Wants to Know, this segment features a debate about an issue that is as relevant to the ACLU today as it was during this 1962 broadcast. All America Wants to Know was…

  • Bronze Memorial Stars

    Dear Mr. Mudd: What is the origin of the stars on Princeton University buildings? Is there any database listing the location of each star? The bronze stars on window sills of Princeton University dormitories commemorate the University’s students and alumni who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and in the…

  • Traveling Hopefully, 1982

    Robert Louis Stephenson once wrote that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive. And the true reward is to labor. I have travelled hopefully for all these years. So has the ACLU. Some day, some time, but the goal is clear, the road is hard, and progress painful. We are approaching — we are…

  • Operation Abolition and Operation Correction

    This week Reel Mudd brings you a double feature with Operation Abolition and Operation Correction! Perhaps the term double feature is inaccurate — each film contains the same footage but tells a different story. Operation Abolition describes how Communist infiltrators led riots while the House Un-American Activities Committee convened in San Francisco. Operation Correction, however,…

  • The Challenge

    This Reel Mudd highlights a 1955 television pilot known as The Challenge. Intended to be the start of a weekly series highlighting controversial social issues, this episode was co-produced by the Fund for the Republic and noted TV producer Worthington Miner. This pilot shows the story of a school bus driver who is fired from…

  • Open House Celebrates Kennedy’s Legacy as President and Temporary Tiger

    Behind the scenes tours of Mudd Manuscript Library offered On Saturday, October 23, Princeton University’s Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library will host a special Open House from 9 a.m. until noon. This event will feature the library’s current exhibit, John F. Kennedy: From Old Nassau to the New Frontier, which highlights objects, photographs, and documents…

  • Everything you wanted to know about the Mudd Manuscript Library but were afraid to ask!

    Who was Seeley G. Mudd? Seeley G. Mudd was a Harvard educated cardiologist and later dean and professor at the University of Southern California. During his lifetime, he contributed more than $10 million to various colleges and universities, and posthumously established a $44 million fund for the development of buildings for higher education, known as…

  • From the Archives: Summer at Princeton

    With most students away and the heat beating down on McCosh Walk, summer at Princeton has an undeniably different character than that of the academic year. Unlike Ivy League counterparts such as Columbia and Harvard, Princeton does not hold summer classes. Instead, the campus is populated by a variety of summer camps, conferences, and other…

  • From the Archives: Princeton and the Supreme Court

    Journalists and pundits are noting that Elena Kagan’s confirmation to the Supreme Court last week marks the first time three women have served concurrently on the high court. However, Kagan’s confirmation marks another historic occasion — the first time in 168 years that three Princetonians have shared the bench. While 2010’s trio consists of Samuel…

  • Our Blog Redesign: Old stuff in a new bottle

    Readers of this blog are used to reading timely, informative, and entertaining news about the collections, staff, and events at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library. But, as of today, this blog will change. Don’t worry — we will still bring you the latest news coupled with tidbits regarding Princeton University history, but as you…